Maleficent
Maleficent is a fictional character who first appears in Disney Animation's 1959 film, Sleeping Beauty. Maleficent is the self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil" based on the wicked fairy character in Charles Perrault's fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, as well as the villainess who appears in the Brothers Grimm's retelling of the story, Little Briar Rose. Maleficent was originally animated by Marc Davis.
In the 1959 film, Maleficent was originally voiced by Eleanor Audley, who earlier voiced Lady Tremaine, Cinderella's evil stepmother, in Disney Animation's 1950 film Cinderella. Maleficent is represented as an evil fairy and the self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil" who, after not being invited to a christening, curses the infant Princess Aurora to "prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die" before the sun sets on Aurora's sixteenth birthday.
A revision of the character appeared as the titular protagonist in the 2014 live-action film Maleficent, portrayed by Angelina Jolie, who reprised the role in the 2019 sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. This version of Maleficent is portrayed as a sympathetic character, who is misunderstood in trying to protect herself and her domain from humans.
Development
Maleficent was animated by Marc Davis, who also animated Aurora in the film. She was aptly named "Maleficent", and may have been based on earlier French and European myths and legends about the fairy Mélusine, especially in the 2014 live-action film of the same name. French historian Jean Markale suggested that the name "Mélusine" may have derived from the earlier Latin name Mala Lucina, with "Lucina" being an epithet of Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage and childbirth. In determining Maleficent's design, standard depictions of witches and hags were dismissed, as Davis had opted for an elegant, sinister, green-skinned beauty, depicted as "vain femme fatale, utilizing a classic archetype of a bad woman". According to Davis, Maleficent "was designed like a giant vampire bat to create a feeling of menace".She was voiced by Eleanor Audley, who had previously performed Lady Tremaine, Cinderella's evil stepmother, in Disney's Cinderella. Audley also provided some live-action recording for both of these characters to inspire the animators. In addition, dancer Jane Fowler performed some live-action reference for Maleficent. Animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, in their book The Disney Villain, describe animating Audley's voice as "a difficult assignment but a thrilling one, working to that voice track with so much innuendo, mixed in with the fierce power".
It was long rumored that Maleficent's likeness was inspired by actress Maila Nurmi, best known for her character Vampira, a camp icon that was created in 1953, and inspired by Morticia Addams from The Addams Family comic strip by Charles Addams for The New Yorker; the Dragon Lady from the comic strip Terry and the Pirates; and the Evil Queen from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In 2014, entries were discovered in Nurmi's journals describing sessions for Walt Disney in November 1956, and the Walt Disney Company was subsequently able to find archival documents corroborating Nurmi's participation as a "live-action reference" model for the character. Maleficent's likeness in the eponymous 2014 film, as portrayed by actress Angelina Jolie, was inspired by Lady Gaga's appearance in her music video "Born This Way".
For the scene when Maleficent transforms into a dragon in the original film, she was animated by Eric Cleworth, who said that the dragon was modeled on a rattlesnake, with "powerful muscles moving a bulky body over the rocky terrain". Sound effects artist Jimmy MacDonald searched for the sound of a dragon's fiery breath by requesting the United States Army to send him some training films on flame throwing, and these films provided just the right sound for him.
Appearances
''Sleeping Beauty''
In the animated film, where she is voiced by Eleanor Audley, Maleficent arrives at King Stefan and Queen Leah's castle during the christening of their newborn daughter, Princess Aurora. She expresses displeasure about not receiving an invitation, to which one of the good fairies named Merryweather replies that she was unwanted. Angered, she prepares to leave. Queen Leah asks her if she is offended, causing Maleficent to deny her rage, and subsequently offers to bestow a "gift" on Aurora to prove that she "bears no ill will". Maleficent confirms that Aurora will grow in grace and beauty, "beloved by all who know her", but as revenge for not being invited by the kingdom, she curses Aurora so that before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel's spindle and die. Before the Royal Guards can seize her, Maleficent disappears, laughing triumphantly. Though Merryweather still has her gift to bestow, she cannot dispel Maleficent's power, but she can weaken the curse: if Aurora was to prick her finger, she will not die but only sleep until a kiss from her true love awakens her.Later, at her castle in the Forbidden Mountains, a frustrated Maleficent asks her bestial army why they have been unable to find Aurora, who had been hidden and brought up by the three good fairies. Maleficent learns that they have focused on searching for a baby the entire time, even though 16 years have passed. She flies into a destructive rage, and soon desperately instructs her pet raven, Diablo, to find Aurora. The bird manages to succeed due to a magical quarrel between Merryweather and Flora, which exposes their location.
On Aurora's sixteenth birthday, after the three fairies have momentarily left the depressed princess alone in a castle room, Maleficent visits Aurora in the form of a will-o-the-wisp, luring the princess to a tower room where Maleficent transforms into a spinning wheel. The fairies, realizing their mistake, pursue Aurora to the tower room. Unfortunately, on Maleficent's command, Aurora pricks her finger on the spindle and falls asleep. When Flora, Merryweather, and Fauna arrive too late, Maleficent appears and taunts them of their attempts of defeating her. Maleficent then reveals Aurora, shocking the fairies as she disappears, leaving the fairies heartbroken at what happened.
Later on, Maleficent and her goons capture Prince Phillip, Aurora's true love, and imprisons him. Maleficent then rests well, thinking she has triumphed. However, she later wakes up and by seeing that Diablo has been turned to stone, she discovers that the fairies have freed Phillip from her dungeon. She climbs to the top of one of her castle's towers and proceeds to blast Phillip with lightning, and after the good fairies foil these attempts, she summons a forest of thorns, through which Phillip slices his way out. Enraged, she blows away and confronts him in front of King Stefan's castle and transforms into a dragon. The three fairies enchant Phillip's Sword of Truth, which he throws into Maleficent's heart, mortally wounding her before she falls off the cliff to her death.
''Maleficent'' film series
''Maleficent''
The 2014 live-action reboot presents Maleficent as a good-hearted but tragic fairy who defends the Moors, a realm of supernatural beings, from neighboring humans. She is played by Angelina Jolie.Prior to the film's events, Maleficent was a benevolent fairy who possessed healing abilities and shared an immense fondness with all the denizens of her mystical domain. Maleficent befriends a thieving peasant boy named Stefan, upon being alerted to his presence by a trio of pixies: Knotgrass, Thistletwit, and Flittle.
As a young adult, Maleficent is betrayed by Stefan, who uses iron to burn off her wings so that he can succeed King Henry. After claiming a raven named Diaval as her henchman, Maleficent renames herself from guardian of the Moors to ruler of same. Both her clothing and realm turn dark, reflecting the hatred with which she is now consumed. When she learns that now-King Stefan and his Queen Leila have a newborn daughter named Aurora, Maleficent acts in the name of what she considers poetic justice by cursing the newborn Aurora to fall into a deathlike slumber on her 16th birthday; the spell can be broken only by the kiss of true love, which neither Maleficent nor Stefan believe in. Knotgrass, Thistletwit, and Flittle are assigned to look after Aurora until after her 16th birthday, but prove be incompetent and negligent. To ensure that her curse comes to pass, Maleficent cares for and protects Aurora from afar. As Aurora grows, Maleficent recognizes the folly of punishing Stefan's daughter for something he alone did. This tender regard for Aurora enables Maleficent to undo the damage which she herself inflicted; after Philip's kiss fails to break the curse, Maleficent voices her regrets and herself kisses Aurora's brow. Roused from her enchanted sleep and now aware of her father's true nature, Aurora foils his efforts to destroy Maleficent by returning Maleficent's wings to her. Completely stripped of her bitterness and thirst for vengeance, Maleficent declares an end to her feud with Stefan, but the king, driven by shame too great to bear, attempts to kill her and himself, only to take a fatal fall from his castle's highest turret.
Following Aurora's ascension over her parents' domain, Maleficent crowns her to rule the Moors as well, with Diaval and Phillip looking on proudly.